The History of Deadpool in Video Games

It’s that time of the year again, Game On Expo is right around the corner and just like last year, I want to do a few video game articles focusing on different topics. In this article, I wanted to touch on the video games to feature Deadpool. You’re probably familiar with the character but if for some crazy reason you’re not, Deadpool made his comic book debut in 1991 in the pages of New Mutants issue #98. Deadpool was an instant hit with readers though his personality was much different in the early days when he was first introduced by creators Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza, much more of a stone cold mercenary who later became the fourth wall breaking Deadpool writer Joe Kelly introduced everyone to years later.

With that said, lets take a look at the first game to feature the “Merc with the Mouth”:X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse

It was FOURTEEN years before Deadpool made his video game debut and it was in a very lackluster game to boot: 2005’s X-Men Legends II. Deadpool was featured as both a boss battle and playable character. For a character who had a cult following, he was unjustly ignored for years.

Deadpool didn’t have to wait long before getting another crack at video game stardom has appeared in both Marvel Ultimate Alliance (2006) and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (2008).

I actually own and enjoy both of these games, they are much better than the very similar X-Men Legends series. Deadpool isn’t stuck with just the X-Men this time around as the character gets to interact with the entire Marvel Universe. Heck, he even gets to grace the cover on the Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

2009 saw the video game release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine… We all know how that turned out.

The next Deadpool was a much different iteration of the character as Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2010) featured the title character running into the Ultimate version of Deadpool. While not really a main character, any time you can get Spider-Man and Deadpool together, it’s bound to be an entertaining time.

The following year Deadpool got his biggest exposure in video games in the form of the mega popular Marvel vs. Capcom series, Marvel vs. Capcom 3/Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Hitting in 2011, the series can take a little bit of credit to bringing back some popularity to Marvel characters in the mid 90s. It was now Deadpool’s turn to get that Capcom bump as he quickly became a fan favorite in the game as well as the upgraded version, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Fast forward to 2013 and it was finally time for the chimichanga loving character to get his own video, simply titled: Deadpool. At this point, the character was a cult hit and many younger gamers who enjoyed the character couldn’t buy the game because it was so over the top with language and violence. The game actually saw a re-release on the newer consoles in 2015, a few months before the Deadpool film hit theaters. It was a smart move on the part of Activison to get the game back out in front of the fans as the film went on to make a LOT of money.

The same year, a total opposite version of Deadpool was seen in a much kid friendly game, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. Let me tell you, I am VERY familiar with this version of Deadpool as he is probably the hardest character to unlock in the game. You have to jump through so many hoops to unlock the character, as my kid and I spent weeks doing so.

The next Deadpool video game appearance isn’t as well known as the others but the character got its own pinball table in Pinball FX2 in 2014. Most of the pinball tables in the game are really well done and very enjoyable including this one.

Now Deadpool has appeared in various mobile and pc games but I am sticking strictly to console video games. That about does it for Deadpool appearances, its been two years since his last outing, I think it is about time we see everyone’s favorite mutant again.